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S A Companies flout equity law

Some more sabre rattling here from the Department of Labour - story from M&G.

The Labour Department is to investigate six companies with "unacceptable" employment equity representation and over 1 000 large companies who failed to submit equity reports, Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana said on Monday.

Releasing the sixth report of the Commission for Employment Equity in Pretoria, Mdladlana said there had been little progress.

Whites still dominated top and senior management positions within the economy.

Mdladlana said his department was going to act.

"Progress thus far has been very slow ... It is of concern to me, and I am sure the majority of the population as well," he said.

Mdladlana named Omnia Group, Medi Clinic, Verimark Holdings, Prism Holdings, Comair and Kumba as the six companies with "unacceptable" equity representation and said the director-general (DG) of the department, Vanguard Mkosana, would review these companies.

The review would determine new employment equity plans and actions recommended by the department. If these were not implemented court action could be taken.

The department would also look into 1 296 large companies who had not submitted employment equity reports to the commission in 2005.

"What I find very disturbing in the report is the declining trend in reporting by employers ... they are in breach of the law," Mdladlana said.

Figures from those companies who had submitted reports showed that while the percentage of whites at top management decreased by 2,3% between 2001 to 2005, they still dominated the top posts with 72,6% white representation compared to 27,2% black [African, coloured and Indian].

At senior management level, blacks accounted for 27,5% of the positions and whites for 72,4%. Among professionals at middle management blacks made up 38,7% and whites 61,3%.

I six the six "main culprits" are still getting up our Labour Minister's nose.

The six companies singled out last year by Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana for failing to comply with employment-equity legislation still continue to defy the law, the Labour Department said on Monday.

Briefing the media in Cape Town, Labour Director General Vanguard Nkosana described as "horrifying" the extent to which the companies are disobeying the Employment Equity Act.

"Preliminary observations of these six companies were not only shocking; all six companies did not comply with the full requirements of the Act ... They have failed to consult with employees, conduct an analysis of their workplace, prepare and implement an employment-equity plan and submit progress report to the Department of Labour using prescribed forms."

The six companies -- Kumba Resources, Comair Limited, Verimark Holdings, Medi-Clinic Group, Prism Holdings and Omnia Group -- were last year subjected to a name-and-shame campaign spearheaded by Mdladlana.full story from M&G here